Ch. 30
A Green Thumb for Trouble
Kakashi frowned down at the three earnest faces that were staring up at him expectantly.
"Run that by me again," he said dryly.
"Men are after my sister! We've got to do something sensei! You're the team leader! Think of something!" cried Naisho as Kakashi frowned in confusion.
"Are you talking about Zabuza?" he asked, causing Naisho to yell in rage as the other two gaped.
"Him too? They're everywhere!" Naisho yelled as he began looking around as if paranoid.
"Well Moriko is a very lovely woman-" Kakashi started only to stop as his team began screeching in outrage.
"You too?!" Naisho screamed as the other two stared at him like he was the devil incarnate.
"Are you in love with her too Sensei?!" Sakura demanded as Sasuke nodded resolutely. Kakashi held up his hands in a placating manner as he began to back away from the kids that were crowding him.
"No. She is a good friend but no. It's hard to love someone that… annoying," he said dryly as the kids heaved sighs of relief. Naisho suddenly stiffened before glaring at Kakashi who put his hands back up in a placating manner.
"What about Asuma or Gai?!" he demanded as Kakashi sweat dropped.
"I'm pretty sure Asuma has been in love with Kurenai since they were kids. I don't know about Gai though, they do spar a lot," he mused as the kids began freaking out.
"I can't have bushy brows as a brother-in-law," Naisho howled before he ran off.
"GAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIII!" he yelled as Kakashi sighed, watching the kids run off at top speed in hunt for his rival.
"YOOOOOOOOUTH!" Sakura yelled as if the word would summon the man.
Kakashi groaned in annoyance when it did indeed summon the man.
"YOOOOSH! Did someone call the mighty Green Beast of Konoha?" Gai yelled as he came to a stop in front of the kids. They seemed to be interrogating him as they had him.
"INDEED! Moriko-san and I are good friends but we do not love each other! We only share a burning passion for YOOOOUTH!" he cried making Kakashi wince from the volume. The kids seemed to talk with him for a moment before he gasped.
"EEEH? Men are fighting for the affections of Moriko-san and you are trying to figure out how to drive them off?" Gai cried as Kakashi suddenly remembered that that was how the conversation had started.
"EEEH? I will not let you do something so unyouthful!" Gai suddenly cried looking stern. The kids dashed off and Kakashi tried to do the same, but Gai was already on him like white on rice.
"Kakashiiiii! My eternal rival! Did you know that your precious students are trying to drive away the fertile men of Konoha from our own Lotus blossom?" he demanded as Kakashi sweat dropped.
"So that's what they wanted," he said dryly as Gai frowned at him arms crossed.
"We cannot let them do something so unyouthful!" Gai cried in high volume making Kakashi wince as he whipped out his book.
"Mah, we'll stop them," he said mildly. That seemed to be enough for Gai who dashed off as Kakashi looked beseechingly up at the heavens.
"Why Kami? Why do you do this to me?" he asked as he listened to Gai yelling about youth in the distance.
...
Later that day
Moriko tried to calm her breathing as she lay on the hospital examination chair. Meeting Tsunade Senju was definitely an... experience. She had been a bit thrown at first by the abrupt bedside manner but didn't find it too off-putting. Well, maybe that was a lie.
...Ok, it was a complete lie. Tsunade's way of treating her was very off-putting but with her future children on the line, Moriko told herself that it wasn't as bad as it really was, if only to control her temper, her indignation. She felt like a lab rat.
Tsunade grunted in thought as she continued a bit further down Moriko's body with her glowing hands. This had already been going on for three hours as Tsunade took her time to check everything that interested her with her patient's body. They had only made it to Moriko's torso, her composition unique enough that Tsunade kept stopping to look over stuff, like Moriko's brain and her eyes and her musculature and her bone structure. Moriko breathed deeply as Tsunade made another derisive comment, doing her best to keep her growing ire under control.
She worked to fall asleep for the rest of the exam, having a feeling she would be here for a long time, and there were only so many of Tsunade's comments she could take. But she could take them. She would. She just needed to hold out a bit longer.
...
The next day
Moriko paused mid-kick in her spar with Gai as she sensed a presence at the edge of the training field. Gai paused as well and the two of them turned to face the newcomer. Hizashi Hyuga sent them a rueful look before suddenly dodging another one of his clan members, the teenage girls giggling madly as he leaped closer to the two sparring partners, landing in a defensive posture.
"Moriko-san! Gai-san! Uncle Hizashi has been getting rusty with his training, can you please help him?" they called, still giggling. Gai paused to think the situation over. His sparring partner Moriko had seemed off all morning, clearly troubled by something, eyes distant and worried. His eyes darted over to his long-standing friend. For the first time today, she was more alert, and in the present, as she sent Hizashi a teasing smile, eyes filled with mirth at the mischief the Hyuga were causing Hizashi.
Picking up on what was going on considering his talks with Kakashi's team this morning, Gai made his decision and beamed widely.
"If it would not trouble Hizashi san, I'm fine with helping. What about you Gai?" Moriko asked as the green beast beamed his approval for all to see. The group departed to hide in the bushes as Hizashi sighed deeply. He apologized for his cousins' behavior but the two Jonin waved it off. Gai's gaze darted to his friend and was gratified to see her already looking more lively. Gai's happy grin turned plotting as he tried to figure out how best to help Hizashi impress the blossom Moriko. Coming up with a brilliant idea, he beamed at the two. Hizashi should show the vigor of his youth since women were drawn to such things.
...
That same day
Tsunade glared at the kids that were pestering Sensei's kid, Asuma, interrupting the conversation she had been having with her Sensei's brat.
"Hey, gaki, scram. We're talking about important ninja business," she said causing the three kids to turn and regard her skeptically for a moment as they began whispering to each other.
"Do you know who she is?"
"No, but she has a forehead seal. I don't think it's one of Moriko-nee's."
"He called her Tsunade."
"Wait, Senju Tsunade? As in the legendary sucker, one of the Sannin and Raiya-oji's teammate?" the group paused to gaze at her for a moment before continuing their whispered discussion.
"She had to deal with Jiraiya and she looks single, do you think she would know?"
Tsunade's jaw dropped at that 'single' comment as the brats had the temerity to continue talking about her like she wasn't there. Asuma coughed to hide his laugh as Tsunade's ire grew. She flicked him in the chest sending him flying into a fence as she harrumphed in aggravation at the little brats. They paused their gossiping to stare at her in shock before the redheaded boy beamed.
"She's perfect! Hey lady, I need some advice!" he called as the blonde woman frowned at him. Naisho's friends trailed after him their expressions determined.
...
"This is a bad idea," Sasuke said deadpan as Sakura chewed her bottom lip looking away in uncertainty as Naisho beamed.
"It's brilliant!" Naisho cried as Tsunade shot the kids an exasperated look, the older woman not missing how what she had said had left the girl with pink hair looking uncertain of herself.
"Your sister is going to kill you Naisho, and I'm going to say I told you so," said Sasuke bluntly as the blonde vibrated with excitement, while Sakura chewed her lower lip anxiously, lost in her thoughts. Sasuke turned to Sakura for support only to find her looking away worriedly and his attention swiftly changed direction.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Sasuke demanded as Sakura blinked out of her thoughts. She fidgeted, looking insecure drawing Sasuke's attention since his friend was normally so confident.
"Tsunade-sama said that men don't like women who are strong and have a temper. I've already got a temper, so if I get stronger, no one is going to want me," Sakura said quietly as she looked down, looking vulnerable. Sasuke grabbed her shoulders, surprising the girl and making her blush seeing her friend's face so close to her own.
"That's only for weak guys Sakura, and you don't want one of those anyway if you need to cater to a delicate ego. You're really great Sakura, and if someone can't appreciate that then do you truly want to waste your time on them?" he asked, causing her face to turn pink.
"G-guess I'm going to have a small dating pool to choose from when the time comes," Sakura said with a nervous laugh as she leaned away from a now frowning Sasuke. What dating pool?! he almost demanded. To Sakura, he looked like he wanted to say something before Naisho's exalted cry cut off their conversation as their heads whipped around at the sound, knowing that what usually followed typically involved dodging and running on their part.
The blonde woman Tsunade was cursing a blue streak that had Naisho and the other two gazing at her in awe. Most people in the village knew Naisho's repeating of some of those words would bring a wrathful Hokage, Moriko, or Jiraiya down on their heads. If this woman was daring such a thing, she must be truly fearless or uninformed, one of the two. She finally simmered down before huffing as she handed over her necklace, her assistant panicking at Tsunade's loss of her grandfather's necklace.
"Fine, what do you want kid?" she demanded as Naisho's grin turned foxy with mischief.
"Oh, not much. Just for you to fight my sister," he said with glee as the other two kids gaped at his daring.
He had just sicced one of the Legendary Sannin on his sister.
"And get her really mad first or she'll be holding back a lot," he added as Tsunade's stunned look turned incredulous with amusement.
"Oh, dear kami," Sakura breathed as Sasuke gawked at his friend, the blonde woman cackling with laughter.
"I'm not going to defend you brat, I'll let her know who sent me," she said with a grin as the boy nodded somberly.
"Fine. I'll take my lumps like a man. Some things just need to be done, for her protection," he said gravely as the blonde cackled before turning to walk away.
"Fine kid. One last thing, what's your sister's name?" she called over her shoulder.
"Moriko Uzumaki," said Naisho causing the woman to pause before her laughter started up once more as she moved away into the crowd.
…
Later that same day
Later that day, Hizashi panted as he continued his push-ups, his hair tied back courtesy of one of Moriko's hair ties and his shirt discarded as he finished his 500th push-up. Gai had been pushing him to the max all day and he was exhausted, and a bit disheartened seeing Gai and Moriko barely breaking a sweat as they chatted while exercising. He had really gotten out of shape, or they were just that active when exercising, Hizashi thought. He rose to his feet as he struggled to keep his breathing even to hide the strain this had put on him. He winced, feeling the pulled muscle in his shoulder causing him issues. Moriko sighed before standing up as well.
"Ok, that's it. Sit," she ordered sternly as he pursed his lips, his pride not wanting him to. A dangerous glint entered her eyes as she crossed her arms. He couldn't help the haughty sniff he gave her, it was too instinctive when his pride was feeling bruised. She scoffed unimpressed.
"You are going to sit and let me heal your shoulder either voluntarily or by force Hizashi-san," she warned as he flushed with annoyance at himself for showing such weakness and her for pointing it out, the woman waiting patiently for his answer.
Struggling with his bruised ego for a moment he finally sat and she relaxed before her hands glowed green. He shivered as he felt her reattach and heal the muscle he had torn before yelping when he felt her chakra sweep through his entire body, making it tingle. His eyes activated and he found himself watching in surprise as she eased the acid from overused muscles, and healed muscle tears, her chakra settling in him like the ocean. This was far more advanced healing than he had thought the young woman capable of. Indeed, she was a woman of many mysteries. Not much was known about her besides her very public appearances. It was odd how much wasn't known about her despite the woman seeming so open.
His eyes widened as he noticed his pool of chakra starting to refill slowly throughout his whole body as she converted some of hers to a neutral state to fill his flagging reserves. But it wasn't being fed into his heart or stomach tenketsu, something that could damage those tenketsu. He wasn't sure how it was entering him at first, how truly bizarre.
This... this wasn't even normal healing, yet despite him using his eyes to watch the process and his limited knowledge of medicine, everything was working as it should, with no abnormalities. Before he knew it, she was pulling away and he was feeling a million times better.
He stared at her in surprise as she gave him a secretive smile before tossing him a scroll. He released its contents and found a hot meal. Suddenly realizing he was ravenous he dug into the meal with gusto as Gai stopped to take a break with them.
As he ate he mulled over all the information he knew about her. She had had enough medical knowledge to diagnose the concussion that the Uchiha Shisui had given himself but hadn't had the confidence needed to treat it. From what he had gathered she wasn't certified. Her way of healing him hadn't had much in common with what he was used to with medic-nin, with her swamping his body afterward and gently refilling his chakra with neutral chakra, feeding it gently into the tenketsu throughout his torso, letting her chakra trickle into the flow of his already flowing chakra.
He slowly looked up as he was struck by sudden realization and stared at her.
She laughed at something Gai had said, and Hizashi wasn't sure if he should be horrified or in awe.
She was self-taught.
It was practically unheard of with how complex the human body was. Remembering how odd her approach to basic healing went he nearly twitched at the alarming realization that she was most likely entirely self-taught, if even the most basics weren't being performed to standardization. He subtly scanned himself with his Byakugan, again finding nothing amiss. Moriko left to check something as Gai turned to regard him. Seeing the worried look on the Hyuga's face and how he had his Byakugan activated, Gai's face cleared with understanding.
"Do not worry Hizashi-san! She has been practicing for years on her trusty friends, and she has not had a mishap in over six years!" he said with a dazzling smile and a thumbs-up. Hizashi wasn't sure what his face showed but it had the Taijutsu master guffawing in amusement.
...
The next day
Moriko ran into Hizashi once more, bright and early. He was already faster and stronger as he dodged his clan member, pausing to give her a wave before continuing the fight. Moriko paused to watch the group spar before she flagged down Hizashi.
With how busy she had been working on seals, she was taking the week to work on her physical conditioning while her clones did most of the leg work for the other two seals that were on her list. Mornings were spars and workouts, and afternoons spent in the Hospital being examined and tested by Tsunade. Her jaw clenched slightly at the thought of the blonde woman before she pushed her aggravation down.
If anything Tsunade was being much more annoying than normal. moriko hadn't thought it possible but it was taking all her self-control to manage the sessions between her and Tsunade nowadays.
Hizashi landed beside her gracefully and his clan backed off to whisper and giggle with each other. Hizashi shot her a grateful look as Moriko grinned.
"So, how's the wife hunt going?" she asked gesturing to his clan with her chin. His flushed cheeks turned a hint pinker as he shot his cousins a glare while they snickered. Her grin widened before she spoke up a bit.
"Ya know, I was about to go for my morning training session with Gai. Why don't you come?" she offered as he grinned pleased. He darted a look at his clan before giving a small bow of the head.
"You have my deepest gratitude," he said falling into step with her as they moved through the village. She sent him a mischievous grin.
"Now don't thank me yet. Yesterday was just working out. Today will be a spar then a workout," she said as he sent her a determined but excited look.
"That sounds perfect," he said as she grinned back, equally excited.
...
A few days later
It had been a week of testing for Moriko and she was starting to get sick of coming to the hospital. Tsunade's little comments hadn't been helping and the young woman found her distaste for the place growing with every visit. She might ask Hiruzen to send her out of the village for a week to get away from all the testing she had been having to endure. Today was like the rest, only so much more important.
"So, we are removing a few ovum?" asked Moriko as Tsunade had her lie back, the older woman snapping on a pair of latex gloves before she prepared the containers for the eggs.
"It's noninvasive, so we should be done in about twenty minutes," said Tsunade as she positioned Moriko's legs in the stirrups and slightly lifted her hospital gown while maintaining the woman's modesty. Using chakra she managed to get a few healthy ovum, carrying them with precise chakra control out of her patient and into the containers she had set up.
"I'll run tests on these and see if it's possible for you to have little alien babies," said Tsunade as Moriko shot her a withering look as she rubbed her abdomen where it was still feeling a bit odd from the extraction.
"Oh hardy har har," grumbled Moriko sarcastically as Tsunade shot her an unimpressed look.
"As someone who has extensively studied your biology, what I say goes," she said as Moriko sighed, letting her chakra glow green to see what was creating the odd sensations.
Deciding that it would go away with time, not seeing anything wrong she released the mystic palm and opened her eyes only to find Tsunade eyeing her. Moriko raised an eyebrow, not sure why Tsunade was looking at her like that before the blonde woman grabbed her arm and began pulling her through the hospital. Moriko yelped before blushing deeply as she held the back of her gown closed.
"What the hell are you doing?! I'm still in a hospital gown!" Moriko cried as Tsunade paused, considered that, and then shrugged as she pulled the barefoot woman along.
"It's fine," she said dismissively as Moriko seethed angrily.
…
Moriko felt her eye twitch in aggravation as Tsunade made her heal another small mammal while her five clones took the exams that Tsunade had laid out for her to take. At this point, she had used Needle Jizo to sew up the back of the hospital gown with her hair. It had been four hours now of Tsunade had started grilling her on her medical knowledge much to Moriko's consternation, the blonde woman playing almost unthinkingly with the container holding the eggs she had extracted.
When Moriko had initially refused to take the medical exams, Tsunade had pretended to drop the jar that held Moriko's ovum. The medic's lips had twitched in amusement at the panicked look on Moriko's face as Tsunade snatched the container out of the air. Tsunade 'suggested' that she get to those tests now. More like threatened to destroy Moriko's ovum. True it was only a couple, but Moriko didn't know how many her body had and didn't want to take any chances with them.
Watching Tsunade playing with the container, threatening to drop it every now and then caused Moriko to grit her teeth and keep pushing through, getting the unspoken implications loud and clear. Moriko had never studied to be a medic officially and had stated so but Tsunade had just brushed her words off again.
…
Tsunade had heard rumors of course, that the young woman was a medic but hadn't taken any of it seriously. Even when she had seen the young woman's hands create the green of healing chakra she hadn't had any expectations for any significant skill. The young woman was clearly self-taught in how she approached healing in an unstandardized manner.
Tsunade hadn't expected her to revive the fish, the most basic task. Or heal the squirrel or the stuck pig that had been bleeding out, Tsunade's genjutsu firmly in place so she wouldn't see the blood.
None of them showed any errors in the healing as well. She hadn't expected the exams she had given the young woman to get even fifty percent, but they were all passable fairly high grades. The woman could be a certified medic right at this moment, but Tsunade had decided not to sign off on the paperwork. Yet.
...
"What the hell is this?" Moriko demanded as Tsunade shoved the form under her nose to sign.
"This is certification to become a medical ninja," said Tsunade as Moriko frowned reading through it rapidly. She scoffed at the stipulations in the form.
That she wasn't allowed into combat, that she would need to serve in the hospital 40 hours a week, and that she would be required to attend orientations several times a month. Moriko could feel her blood pressure rising in aggravation. She was already busy enough with a full-time job as a sealing master and Tsunade just thought she could dump more onto her plate just like that?
"I'm not signing this," said Moriko with a scoff as Tsunade glared.
"You are going to sign that paper. You are more than fully qualified to act as a medical nin and not having you do so is a wasted resource to the village. Sign the damn paper," she said as Moriko glared back.
"It says that I have to work in the hospital and that I can't enter combat, there's no way that I'm signing this," she snapped losing her temper. Tsunade scoffed. This woman was one of the better healers she had met. While she wasn't on Tsunade's level, she could be with some training and experience in the medical field. On top of that, Moriko would be able to create seals for healing if she had more experience and knowledge of the healing arts; she could change the medical field forever. It was enough that Tsunade felt that she belonged in the hospital full-time. That and there shouldn't be anything imperative enough for the sealing master to be doing in her spare time if she spent her days sparring and getting examined in the hospital. There was a sealing master cooling her heels in the village and Tsunade knew how to utilize her properly.
"Listen kid-" she said starting to hold up the container with the ovum in it prepared to use the treat to the eggs to get her to comply again.
An unholy light filled the young woman's eyes as killing intent and chakra pressure snapped to full force, the floor, window, and wall cracking. Tsunade's eyes widened in alarm and she swiftly lowered the container with the eggs, as medical equipment began going off all over the hospital.
"He's flatlining!" a medic shouted rushing into a room and Tsunade's wide-eyed gaze snapped back at the furious young woman. There was the promise of death in those eyes.
"Stop it! Here!" Tsunade snapped handing the young woman the container with her ovum. The pressure disappeared and the rest of the hospital scrambled to stabilize patients who had been adversely affected by the suffocating killer intent. Tsunade was a bit startled by the vehemence of the young woman's reaction but swiftly recovered, letting her righteous anger mask her startlement as Moriko's hand glowed green as she examined the ovum in the container. They disappeared into a seal on her hand and Tsunade's ire returned full force seeing that. Human-safe storage seals hadn't been invented yet, and yet this young woman wouldn't have put her eggs in a seal that would have killed them. Her having a human-safe storage seal was only further proof of her potential in medicine. There was so much talent right there in front of Tsunade and she felt her frustration rise at the disregard of the other woman to do her duty and go into medicine. She found herself starting to sneer in disdain.
"You might think you're all that, but that doesn't mean a damn if it's not what the village needs and the village needs healers now more than ever," Tsunade snapped as she took a lecturing tone as Moriko scoffed.
"Like you even know what this village needs. When was the last time you were here? You're so out of touch it's not even funny and you think you can waltz back here like the queen of Shiva and everything will bow to your whims."
"I know more than you, princess. This village needs medics first and foremost. Now, you're going to sign this damn form before I put you through a wall, or else," Tsunade growled cracking her knuckles threateningly as Moriko's expression hardened.
"Like you could," she growled as Tsunade smirked, her temper starting to get the better of her. She was done playing nice with this stuck-up Uzumaki wannabe. If she didn't want to get her hands dirty, Tsunade would do it for her. After all, She had promised to help that kid drive off suitors for his sister, and most guys didn't care for a woman with a rearranged face.
"Let's see what you've got then," Tsunade said with a smirk as she grabbed the woman by the arm and began dragging her to the exit.
"Fuck you, Tsunade. I'm not going to fight you! I am sick of you-" Moriko yelped as Tsunade tossed her out the window from the top of the hospital floor to the horror of the doctors and nurses who had been in the hallway dealing with patients. A moment later there was a loud thud then an explosion of foul language. Tsunade cackled as she listened to the list of profanities and other things Moriko was yelling when she landed a ways away, covered in grass stains still bare assed and barefoot as she shook her fist at the hospital where she could see Tsunade standing. It seemed like the hair she had woven into the back of the hospital gown had ripped when she had landed and her gown was fluttering around in the back.
"Shishou! What the hell are you thinking?" cried Shizune as she ran up, clearly stressed as her Master chortled.
"What can I say, I want to knock the princess down a few pegs. She'll be signing those papers soon enough," she called as she leaped out the hospital window.
...
Anko skidded into the break room of T and I, looking manic. The seven people in there froze. She was vibrating from excitement.
"There's a catfight in training ground two by the hospital! It's Moriko, Jiraiya's apprentice and Tsunade of the Sannin!" she announced to dead silence. A second later there was a mad scramble to halt interrogations and gather friends and snacks to go watch the spectacle, the entire building clearing out in minutes. Anko gleefully lit the flare that would indicate which training ground the fight was being held before releasing Asuma's firecracker jutsu several times to indicate this was a big fight. Anko arrived at the field to Moriko's yelling as she pushed through the growing crowd of medical personnel to get a better look. Anko yelped as a bolder crashed into the barrier in front of her, Moriko's voice rising in her fury.
"-And then you dragged me across the hospital for the fifth time while just wearing a gown! I'm still wearing a hospital gown! I don't even have shoes! You threw me out the fucking top window and I flashed everyone in the training field! I'm going to make you regret this Tsunade, mark my words!"
"Big talk for a little girl. Like you could touch me, ha!"
"Oh you want a fight, I'll give you a fight!"
Anko vibrated in excitement before cheering wildly.
"Woooo! Flash dat booty!" she yelled, which only seemed to infuriate her friend Moriko further. Itachi returned in a shunshin and threw a spare pair of his pants and shoes Moriko's way over the barrier. Another ninja tried to grab them, but it was too late and the young woman slipped them on before tying the hospital gown back and activating her armor over it.
"Ha! You could have just worn that this entire time! You're overreacting!" Tsunade cackled, excited for the fight. Her opponent was suitably worked up.
"I look ridiculous, and I'm going to make you regret making me have such a shit day today! Like hell I would ever work for such a shitty person! It's time someone taught you some bedside manners!" Moriko screeched as the crowd cheered loudly, a milling throng of people.
...
Moriko roared in effort as she used earth manipulation to halt the enormous boulder Tsunade had thrown at her in midair, the thing floating before her. The blonde medic's eyes widened in surprise before a smug grin crossed her face.
Moriko roared as she sent and explosion of earth chakra ripping through it as her hand lapped its surface. The boulder suddenly exploded into sharp bits as it was blasted towards Tsunade. The blonde dodged the debris with finesse, grabbing a couple of boulders and throwing them at full speed at her opponent who used earth manipulation to redirect or divert the stone as it flew.
"Ha! Let's see you copy this!" Tsunade yelled as she used precise chakra control to augment her entire body, as she uprooted a tree, throwing it at her opponent. The tree disappeared into a storage seal as Anko began fangirling in glee.
"Oh my god, she's using seals! Seal fight!" she screamed. The debris Tsunade threw disappeared swiftly before suddenly they all went flying back at her at once, flying at the same speed and trajectory they had been going before they were captured. The medic yelped as she was forced to dodge three trees, two large boulders, and several smaller boulders all at once. She stepped on a seal and had a millisecond to replace herself with a rock before the seal exploded. She cursed seeing a field of seals on the ground in front of her. She activated the seal of one hundred before stepping forward.
...
"What the hell is going on?" demanded the Hokage as he pushed to the front of the exuberant crowd where Anko was cheering. Hiruzen jumped when Tsunade bounced off the barrier in front of him to the approving roar of the huge crowd. Tsunade rose with a snarl before leaping back into the fray, the ground shaking as the two women clashed, rubble flying. There was a flashbang and Tsunade was slamming into the other side of the barrier. Hiruzen cursed, knowing that both women were too stubborn to stop without intervention, and went to find Jiraiya. If there was someone who could break this fight up it was him.
...
Both women sulked from their spots in the swamp of the underworld that Jiraiya had called up as Hiruzen's Anbu tried to disperse the lingering crowd who were disappointed that the fight had been stopped before there could be a winner declared. Some of the nosier ones wanted to know why the fight had started and were doing their best to get within earshot. Itachi, Hizashi, Kakashi, Gai, Asuma, Kurenai, Fugaku, Mikoto, Shisui, and Anko were lingering near Jiraiya as he tried to talk down the two women.
"She belongs in the hospital!"
"Tsunade she can't-"
"She belongs in the hospital, or I walk from this project!"
"The walk, you old hag! Who the hell are you to think you can strongarm me into doing anything?! I don't see what sensei likes about a pushy bratty bully like you!"
"Shut up you stupid princess, god someone needs to take you down a peg!"
"That's rich coming from a bitchy brat like you!"
"Tsunade, she's working on several major projects with Jiraiya-" began Hiruzen.
"So have him-"
"No! Enough! She's not working in the hospital and that's final," Jiraiya snapped at his teammate thoroughly fed up with the ridiculous behavior. Caught off guard by Jiraiya's uncharacteristic anger with her, Tsunade paused, lips pursed before she sighed deflating.
"Fine. I need her in the hospital because she could revolutionize the medical field with seals, and she's a good healer with how little experience she has. She could be as good as me with some time and training," she said loudly, pausing as she regarded her teacher and Jiraiya seriously. Jiraiya and Hiruzen shot each other surprised looks as the crowd went quiet having heard Tsunade's words. Moriko fumed seeing the reactions of the people around her.
"First of all," she hissed as she pulled herself from the swamp as a clone appeared with a scroll. The mud and dirt flew off of Moriko harshly before a clone wrapped her in a kimono, "You're a real piece of shit, Tsunade! Don't think that I know what you're doing!" she spat, still furious before turning to the eagerly listening crowd of people and addressing them directly.
"She's trying to destroy my ninja career right now to force me into her program, so don't listen to her lies. I'm a mediocre healer at best, but if word got out to other nations that I could be the next Tsunade, they would put a huge bounty on my head, even if it's not true. What she just did would have ended any other ninja's career as a combatant." she told the group who were looking wide-eyed as they glanced between the two furious women as Moriko turned back to the sannin, looking furious.
"You're a malicious piece of work. I bet you got off to publicly humiliating me," hissed Moriko as Jiraiya moved to intercept her in case she tried to attack the restrained woman. Tsunade scoffed.
"You can blame the public humiliation on a bet, princess," Tsunade said with a smirk as the other woman seethed.
"What the hell does a bet have to do with publicly humiliating me?!"
"Your little brother came to ask me how to drive men off from his big sister. I told him that if we showed you were very strong and had a violent temper, no one would dare approach you afterward. Sure worked for me. Then I lost a bet to him. At first, I wasn't going to honor it, not seeing a point. Then I got to know you a bit better and decided I'd do it for free," she sneered as Moriko seethed angrily.
"First off, you're a grown fucking adult so don't try to place the blame for your actions on the shoulders of a child. What are you, five? No, you're fifty; you know better and yet you have the responsibility and emotional maturity of a toddler! Like hell I'm ever going to work with someone like that in a medical setting!" she said before her head snapped up, spotting red hair. Her face turned red with rising anger as her hair began puffing up in her fury. The trio of kids yelped before they started running.
"NAISHOOOOOO! JUST WAIT TILL I GET MY HANDS ON YOU, YA LITTLE BRAT! YOU BETTER HIDE AT A FRIENDS HOUSE FOR THE NEXT WEEK! I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO FURIOUS IN MY LIFE!" Moriko suddenly yelled as she tore off down the street after the running kids, causing her group of friends to startle in alarm before Shisui left the group to save the little brat from his sister. Itachi followed him in a blur, knowing he would need to save his little brother from her wrath.
"I smell drama! Guy's let's follow them," said Anko excitedly, getting the rest of the group to venture after the two.
AN: So there's a misunderstanding here.
Tsunade doesn't know about the invasion yet.
She just sees Moriko chilling, sparring in the mornings, coming in for medical exams that take hours.
She doesn't see the hundred clones working on seals or see the supply runs Moriko has to take that expend a lot of time and chakra, or the late nights working with Hiruzen and Jiraiya on the counter-invasion, or the many other times Moriko is being a runner for the Hokage or Jiraiya. We will start to see more of that in the next chapter as well.